SciFi Art Now is a book collecting some of the best in contemporary science fiction art by a wide range of creators. The book, edited by John Freeman, includes an introduction by the legendary Chris Foss and is on sale now in all good bookshops.

Sunday, 28 October 2012

If you're looking for a book as a Christmas present for the SF fan in your life that will potentially keep them quiet for hours - not just reading it, but the novels they buy as a result of reading it - then Non-Stop Press' Science Fiction: The 101 Best Novels 1985-2010 might be just the ticket.

Released earlier this year, the book, compiled by Damien Broderick and Paul Di Filippo, was Inspired by Interzone editor David Pringle's landmark 1985 work Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels, this volume supplements the earlier selection with the present authors' choices for the best English-language science fiction novels during the past quarter century. Employing a critical slant, the book provides a discussion of the novels and the writers in the context of popular literature.

"The chance to pause and take a look backward at the genre helped refresh my sense of the marvels the field had recently achieved," says co-author Paul Di Filippo, "and to inspire future goals of my own. Luis Ortiz at Non-Stop Press also makes such beautiful books!"

Of interest to SF art fans, hence its mention here, is that each entry features a cover image of the novel, as well as a plot synopsis (warning: some spoilers in these, as well as the "mini reviews), making it an ideal go-to guide for anyone wanting to become reacquainted with an old favourite or to discover a previously unknown treasure.

The selected works include Orson Scott Card's Enders Game, Doomsday Book by Connie Willis, Perdido Street Station, The Time Traveler’s Wife and many other better known novels, rubbing shoulders with books some argue have no place in such a list, such as Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America and Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.

With a foreword by David Pringle, this invaluable reference has already provoked conversation and debates among SF fans and devotees judging from online reviews, and just like Pringle's 1985 work, I'm sure it's one that will continue to do so for some time to come.

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About Sci-Fi Art Now

Sci-Fi Art Now is a book collecting some of the best in contemporary science fiction art by a wide range of creators. The book, edited by John Freeman, includes an introduction by the legendary Chris Foss, published in the UK by ILEX and in the US by Harper Collins.

A full list of artists featured, together with links to their web sites, appears below.

Chris Foss

Chris Foss provides the introduction for Sci-Fi Art Now, an artist who has had an immense impact on our collective vision of the future down the years, as cover artist for many SF books written by authors such as Harry Harrison, Philip K Dick, Isaac Asimov and E.E. 'Doc' Smith'; and his design work for films such as Alien and Superman.